Sending out an SOS! Williams joins list of stars who have stepped back into the breach to answer their nation's call

WILLIAMS IN LIONS SOS

Williams could barely believe it when the Lions assistant coach Rob Howley phoned him in Tokyo. 'I am more shocked than you are,' he told Talksport.

'I will give 100% effort and commitment and do whatever it takes to help the team out. I don't feel my age and I feel fresh.

'If I had any doubt that I wasn't capable or good enough I'd have said no. There is no way I would let the Lions down.'

Shane Williams may be the most
unlikely Lion of the summer but in the history of players answering a
sporting SOS, there has been an even more surprising choice to wear the
famous red jersey.

Indeed, when Tokyo-based Williams
answered the phone to Lions assistant coach Rob Howley and agreed to
once more step into the breach, he joined an illustrious list that
includes a legendary All Black, one of England’s finest cricketers,
perhaps the greatest flat racing jockey in history and one of the most
devastating rugby league players to have played the game.

Before we find out about those other
unlikely call-ups, first to Williams’ fellow Lion, a back who also
found himself being called to arms in Australia, the Scottish scrum-half
Andy Nicol.

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Who you gonna call: Shane Williams, centre, is not the first sports star to answer an SOS

Andy Nicol (SOS from: 2001 Lions, Age at SOS: 30)

Scotland’s rock solid scrum-half had toured New Zealand with the Lions in 1993 as an emergency call-up and played just six minutes. Eight years later he was overlooked for selection for the Australia tour by coach Graham Henry.

His omission did not come as a surprise as Henry had the luxury of picking Wales’ Rob Howley – the very man who sent the SOS out to Williams – England’s Matt Dawson and his compatriot, the mercurial Austin Healey.

‘This was my ‘training’ schedule as we went round Oz, from Brisbane where the Lions won the first test, through Melbourne where Australia levelled the series and up to Sydney for the deciding test match.

‘On the Friday night before that match, I received a phone call from Donal Lenihan, the Lions Manager, enquiring about my fitness.

‘I was convinced it was a wind-up by someone with a comedy Irish accent and then I realised it really was Donal and that he was being deadly serious.

‘Lying through my teeth I said I was fine and asked why he was asking.

‘He informed me that there was an injury to one of the players and, when he told me it was Austin Healy, I thought, that’s such a shame because he is such a nice guy!

‘So, having spent the previous two weeks sampling every bar on the Australian Eastern seaboard, I was asked to sit on the bench and be the replacement scrum half for the deciding match.

‘Probably, it turned out for the best, as I was not needed to go on to the field of play.

'Just to round off the most bizarre 24 hours of my life, when I went back into the changing room after the game, my number, No 20, was pulled out of the hat for the drugs test!

‘All I can say is, thankfully, they do not test for alcohol’

Brian Lochore (SOS from 1971 All Blacks, Age at SOS: 30)

It is not just the Lions who have to make these emergency SOS calls.

In 1971, their opponents New Zealand were frantically searching for a lock forward to play in the third Test (the series was tied at 1-1) after Peter Whiting was injured.

All Blacks coach Bob Duff knew a man to call. He didn’t play second-row; in fact, he did not play the game at all anymore, having retired as one of the most successful captains in New Zealand history.

Leader of men: Brian Lochore crowned an incredible career when coached the All Blacks to the World Cup in 1987

That man was Brian Lochore and he had already been convinced to come out of retirement earlier in the tour.

The Lions were in town to play against Lochore’s local club Wairarapa-Bush and their star player Ian Turney was missing.

Unlikely lad: Brian Lochore was called out of retirement to play against the 1971 Lions

Not wanting to leave the club he owed so much to in the lurch, Lochore laced up his size 10s for what he thought was one last time and played in a 27-6 loss.

Afterwards, he headed back to Masterton to rest his weary limbs glad his body would never again suffer at the hands of Lions. How wrong he was.

On the day before the third test in Wellington he took a call from a frantic Duff. Whiting was out and and legendary forwards Colin Meads and Ian Kirkpatrick were doubtful.

Lochore’s body was broken but he could not ignore his country’s call so he packed a bag, scrawled a note to wife Pam, which memorably read ‘Gone to Wellington. Playing Test tomorrow. Will call later.’

Lochore did play but the Lions won 13-3 inspired by the genius of Welshman Barry John. It was the last of Lochore’s 25 caps and finally he was able to luxuriate into his retirement as one of the finest All Blacks of all time.

But Lochore did not stop his involvement with New Zealand rugby after hanging up his boots and crowned a successful coaching when he led New Zealand to their first World Cup triumph when they won on home soil in 1987.

Colin Cowdrey (SOS from 1974 England Ashes side, Age at SOS: 41)

It is not just rugby union players who answer call of their country but there certainly must be something about touring the Antipodes.

During the 1974-75 Ashes tour to Australia, England’s batting line-up was being bruised and battered by an Aussie arsenal made up of Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson, two of the most feared bowlers to have played the game.

England captain Mike Denness felt his side needed experienced reinforcement and had no hesitation in turning to a 41-year-old who hadn’t played a Test match for three-and-a-half years.

Last-minute panic: Colin Cowdrey had just hours to pack his bags after receiving an emergency call-up

Colin Cowdrey answered with as little hesitation as Denness had shown in sending out the SOS and, after a torturous 47-hour journey that featured a 19-hour delay in India, the country of Cowdrey’s birth, he touched down in Perth for a record sixth Ashes tour.

Denness had made the call on the last day of the first Test in Brisbane. He asked Cowdrey if he had been watching the match – back in those days the BBC showed cricket – and when Cowdrey said he had indeed, he proffered the invitation to come out and face Thommo and friends.

‘I'd love to," replied Cowdrey. ‘It's nice to be remembered.’

Before he flew out Cowdrey confessed to journalists, ‘I haven't been in cricket practice since the season ended, but I play squash and am quite fit.’

It was a good job he was because just two days after landing and with just three hours of net practice behind him, Cowdrey was selected to play in the second Test.

The Times’ cricket correspondent John Woodcock wrote that, ‘Cowdrey could have done no more to cram two months' practice into three days’, while that doyen of cricket writers, Christopher Martin-Jenkins penned a line of typical elegance, ‘[Cowdrey] went through his preparation with all the calm and dignity of a bishop, with time, a word and a smile for everyone.’

Sign of the times: As Jeff Thomson can attest to, Colin Cowdrey was always politeness personified

It was a good job Cowdrey had been able to glimpse the ferocious pace of Thomson and Lillee on TV because as he proves, to be forewarned is to be forearmed.

Letting rip: Thomson greeted Cowdrey with the words 'That's not going to help you fatso, piss off'

As team-mate Tony Greig revealed in his memoirs, ‘Colin released the lock of his cricket case, [and] it sprang open as if alive.

‘Then gradually, like bread rising in an oven, a mountain of foam rubber rose from the interior.

‘This was Cowdrey's protection, and he
had obviously been well briefed. He padded almost every part of his
body, but nobody laughed. We had seen enough to convince ourselves he
was right.’

Cowdrey is supposed to have greeted
Thomson with the words, ‘how good to meet you’ but reputations meant
little to Thmoson, who is alleged to have replied, ‘That's not going to
help you fatso, piss off.’

Less
than a fortnight before his 42nd birthday, Cowdrey went on to make
creditable, perhaps even remarkable, scores of 22 and 41, although he
was dismissed by Thomson is both innings.

Cowdrey went on to play in the final four Test matches of the Ashes series but never scored higher than the 41 he managed in the second innings of the Perth Test.

He retired from international cricket on his return to England with 22 Test centuries to his name and impressive batting average of 44.06 from his 114 Test appearances.

Those words tell you all you need to know about rugby league hero Allan Langer, better known as ‘Alfie’

They were the ones he uttered when under-pressure Queensland coach Wayne Bennett put in a call to Warrington, England just a week before the State of Origin decider against the New South Wales Blues back in 2001.

Secret mission: Allan Langer is congratulated by his Queensland team-mates after scoring

Langer dazzled as one of the finest half-backs of his, or any, generation. He won the Brisbane Broncos player of the year award a record five times in the 1990s but always promised himself he would bow out of the game as soon as his wondrous gifts began to fade.

And so it was that after a lacklustre start to his 1999 season, Langer announced his retirement from rugby league before the season was even half-way through.

Twinkle toes: Allan Langer was one of the most gifted players of his generation

Warrington came calling and Langer felt his body and brain could cope with the less rigorous challenge of the English game and he left the Australian game behind for good – or so he thought.

Then came Bennett’s secret plan that began with that call to Langer in Warrington.

‘I haven't slept since Benny [Bennett] rang me, Langer said on his touchdown back in Australia.

`For two years not a night has gone by without me dreaming about playing for Queensland. I want to come back and play good football. It's a one-off game.’

Some New South Wales journalists were scornful of Bennett’s SOS. One, Phil Gould, said Queensland rugby must be in a sorry state if they ‘needed to bring back 35-year olds to win’.

Langer’s arrival back home was the first anyone knew about his return, ‘I haven't been able to tell anyone. Not even my parents.

‘Dad's going to have a heart attack when he hears the news. I wish the game was tomorrow. A packed ANZ Stadium, the biggest Origin crowd ever in Brisbane. I just want to play.’

There was plenty of work to be done to make this SOS work: Warrington had to give Langer permission (they did); Bennett had to convince the Queensland selectors he wasn’t mad (he did); then Australian Rugby League had to make history by making an English-based player eligible for the State of Origin (they did).

The rest is rugby league folklore. Langer tore New South Wales to shreds and capped his comeback in the 54th minute when he scored a trademark solo try from close range to guide Queensland to a series victory a year after their worst ever defeat.

Sydney's The Daily Telegraph reacted to the New South Wales team's Origin loss with the front-page headline: ‘BLOODY ALF’.

Lester Piggot (SOS from: His accountant, Age at SOS: 54)

With his 50th birthday fast approaching Lester Piggot retired as a jockey at the end of the 1985 flat season and became a trainer.

Piggott stands as a giant among giants when it comes to flat racing. He won the Epsom Derby nine times and became the youngest ever to win the event in 1954 at the tender age of 18.

Ride before a fall: Lester Piggot returned to racing at the age of 56 to help fund his tax bill

He rode to 5,300 winners in more than 30 countries during his 47 years in the saddle and he had almost as much success in his new career as he had had during a racing career that saw him named Champion Jockey 11 times between 1960 and 1982.

However, after sending out 34 winners in less than two full seasons, Piggott’s world was to fall apart when he was convicted of tax fraud of over £3m in 1987 and sentenced to three years in prison, the sentence is the highest to be passed for a personal tax fraud.

Back in the saddle: Lester Piggot, black silks, strides towards his mount after a five-year absence from racing